6io THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the importance of studying the entire environment, physical and social, 

 of the young student at once appears. Here, in fact, the problem of 

 her education centers. 



Turaing from the general conclusion to the consideration of certain 

 specific problems, we educe the following data for discussion : 



By all odds the most important fact regarding the higher education 

 of woman is, that we are educating wives and mothers. Few probably 

 will regret this, but those few must still admit the fact in a society 

 constituted like ours. This, then, is the heart of the situation, and, in 

 view of it, the following statistics are suggestive : 



Omitting Oberlin College, for reasons already given, 26 per cent of 

 the graduates who report are married, the other 74 per cent single. 

 The average number of years since graduation is, however, over six, 

 and average age over twenty-seven. Of the married, 37 per cent are 

 without children, although the average number of years married is 

 6*2. The one hundred and nine having children report 205. Of 

 these, 12 per cent have died, and, of these deaths, 25 per cent are due 

 to causes connected with bearing. If we include all married couples, 

 there is but 1'2 child to every five years of married life ; and, even if 

 we exclude those not having borne any, there are, among the remain- 

 der, two children to seven years of married life. AVe leave these 

 figures, as the others, to speak for themselves. 



That three hundred report their post-graduate occupations as 

 teaching, and that one hundred and sixteen are following a profes- 

 sional life, shows a fact too easily lost sight of. Collegiate courses for 

 woman have not solved the problem of her education, but, at most, of 

 her technical training. It can hardly be thought desirable that 60 per 

 cent of all the young women of our country, who ought to have col- 

 legiate training, should have it only as a preparation for one of the 

 professions or for teaching. The question of women's education, in 

 any worthy sense of the term education, has yet to be faced. The re- 

 markable fact that the courses for female education, as well in purely 

 female institutions as in co-educational, run parallel with and are 

 modeled after the curriculum of male colleges, is to be accounted for 

 only on the ground that upon the whole their training is designed for 

 those who have to compete with men in the professional walks of life. 



If we confine ourselves to the health of women, we shall find that 

 the figures hardly justify us in assuming a purely optimistic attitude. 

 The following figures speak for themselves : Of those who entered 

 college one or two years after the commencement of the menstrual 

 period, 20*5 per cent had poor health during college-life ; of those 

 who entered three to five years after, but 17*7 per cent ; and more 

 than five years, 15*4 per cent. If we compare the ages at entering col- 

 lege with the relative improvement or deterioration in health, we reach 

 the same result. Of those who entered college at sixteen years or 

 under, 28 per cent fell oflf in health, while 17 per cent gained. The 



